Protein kinase Cι activity is necessary for Bcr-Abl-mediated resistance to drug-induced apoptosis

K562 chronic myelogenous leukemia cells are highly resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs, such as taxol, that induce cell death by apoptosis. This resistance is mediated by the chimeric tyrosine kinase oncogene Bcr- Abl. However, little is known about the mechanism by which Bcr-Abl protects K562 cells from apoptosis. We recently demonstrated that expression of PKCι is necessary for the resistance of K562 cells to taxol-induced apoptosis (Murray, N. R., and Fields, A. P. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 27521-27524). We now demonstrate that treatment of K562 cells with taxol leads to sustained activation of PKCι. In contrast, Bcr-Abl-negative HL60 myeloid leukemia cells, which are sensitive to taxol-induced apoptosis, do not exhibit sustained PKCι activation in response to taxol. Treatment of K562 cells with tyrphostin AG957, a selective Bcr-Abl inhibitor, blocks taxol-induced PKCι activation and sensitizes these cells to taxol-induced apoptosis, indicating that PKCι is a relevant downstream target of Bcr-Abl-mediated resistance. Furthermore, expression of constitutively active PKCι by adenovirus-mediated gene transfer rescues AG957-treated K562 cells from taxol-induced apoptosis. Taken together, these results demonstrate that both Ber-Abl and PKCι activity are necessary for apoptotic resistance in K562 cells. Furthermore, they identify PKCι as a critical downstream target of Bcr-Abl that is sufficient to mediate the anti-apoptotic effects of Bcr-Abl.